U-M wrestler Ryan Churella, who was...how should be put this? Oh, yeah...HOSED by the refs in the NCAA championship match of the 165-pound division on March 18th is still stinging from the loss according to a story in the Ann Arbor News. And who can blame the guy? The incident caused one of the biggest outrages in NCAA tournament history and video of the event is making its way around the Internet.
In fact, at the of blog of Tom Franck, a former state wrestling champ and U-M alum, he's found pictures proving just how much the refs were on the side of the Oklahoma State wrestler.
P.S. Props to Okie State fans who, according to the A2 News article linked above, sent emails to Churella saying he should have won the match. Very classy, folks. Very classy indeed.
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3 comments:
Just goes to show how much wrestling is on the radar of most sports fans...uh...not much. Saw the match and he did get screwed while his father, I believe a two or three time National champ for the maize and blue, stood on the side helpless. The ref acted more as a fan than an official as he seemed to be caught up in the moment. His calls were atrocious to say the least.
It's a travesty, but he should get over it. These things happen. Besides, it's not like it's football.
Wrestlers are the hardest working athletes, period. Ryan got screwed plain and simple. He spent the better part of eleven years trying to get to the pinnacle of his sport (which is the NCAAs for wrestlers). I wrestled with Ryan in high school, and I'm still sick to my stomach for him. Nobody, and I do mean nobody, wanted to win a national title more than he did. For four years in high school, Ryan used to run sprints after every match behind the bleachers. After he won the conference title his senior year, instead of celebrating beating his rival, he ran sprints behind the bleachers. He deserved much better than this, that's for sure.
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